


It's a Revolution, I Suppose

by Wardove



Series: Spider Stories [6]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-05 15:58:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wardove/pseuds/Wardove
Summary: Gwen's been changing, ever since she came home with half a head of hair missing.George just wants to see his daughter happy again.





	1. I'm Waking Up, I Feel It In My Bones

**Author's Note:**

> Many many little things to say here. First off, this entire thing was spawned thanks to a conversation with PGKnott on discord at 4 in the morning ages ago, so thank them for encouraging my adhd brain to run with this!
> 
> Second, title is from Radioactive by Imagine Dragons because I spent like an hour going _I can't call this Spider Stuff 7: Let's be Mean to the Dads Now_, so the title is basically meaningless sorry. 
> 
> Thirdly, I haven't read any of Gwen's comics (I've only just started dabbling in reading any of the spider-comics whoops), so I started writing this with my general internet osmosis knowledge (which is basically the ItSV movie and whatever fanfics for it that I've read lol). _Then_ I wiki'd the basics, so here in my reality George doesn't know about Gwen being Spider-Woman (though she has still saved his life, as was mentioned in the movie). 
> 
> Fourthly, these are probably at least half a year after Spider-Verse? To quote one of my fav authors "Timeline? What Timeline?" but it's at least 2 months after Jefferson started teaching the spiders how to work properly with police procedure. 
> 
> And lastly, while it'd be super fun to play with all the spiders having vanished from their own dimensions for the week and the fallout of literally vanishing off the face of the earth, I messed with the timeline a bit so even though a week+ passed in Miles's universe, not as much time went by in the other dimensions (mainly because I love fluff and having his daughter missing possibly dead no contact no nothing is terrible and mean and I'd love to delve into it but also I don't so there). Gwen and the other spiders were only missing from their own dimensions for like, a single day, two at max- long enough to be strange and potentially very alarming, but not long enough for a "they're probably dead and not coming home" problem.

I.

George Stacy is no idiot. He noticed when Gwen came home late one night after a night and day out with her band with half her head shaved ("What did you do to your hair?" "There was uhhhh... a kid with... sticky... fingers.")

He noticed weeks go by and how she was on her phone more often, not just scrolling lazily but thumbs flying as she texted people, mouth twitching in near-smiles. He noticed how her moody silences had turned thoughtful and calm. And then, a few more weeks after _whatever_ it was that had started this change... Gwen laughed. It was early in the morning, they'd just finished breakfast, and Gwen had a stack of dishes in one hand and her phone in the other, and she just... honestly laughed. It wasn't a belly-aching kind of laugh, but it wasn't that short, forced chuckle she'd used ever since her friend's death two years ago either. It was short and quiet and surprised, like it'd been startled out of her, but _it was a laugh_.

Something had _changed_ in his daughter's life, and George was happy, but also curious. She didn't talk about making new friends at school, her band seemed to be doing the same as ever (if anything, it sounded like she was meeting with them less outside of practice these days), and she was on her phone or disappearing more often. 

The vanishing was the worrying part. She'd call out that she was going out for a while, and then just... vanish. Before, she'd done that but she'd still send messages and answer calls so he knew she was around and okay, but now her phone was off or out of range (which made no sense, unless she was spending hours on end in the subway tunnels, which was a whole different concern right there.) 

He tried asking her one time, while she was grinning at her phone, about what she was laughing at, and her offhand response was "Peter's such an idiot, how does he have a degree in anything? In what reality is street-vendor hot dogs and pigeon-watching a good first-re-date idea?" A snicker, followed by a muttered "Janky hobo disaster man."

And he's surprised because his first thought was 'Peter's dead' but then he realizes that this is a different Peter, and he's surprised again because Gwen had seemed to instantly dislike anyone unfortunate enough to share her old friend's name. But here she was now, teasing another Peter about... a hot dog date? 

He's not sure what's inspired this change, but George Stacy is just glad to see his daughter smiling again, so he doesn't push it. 

Though, he is a little worried about the 'janky hobo disaster man' comment. 

 

 

II.

Gwen's not the only one changing, he finds out. White Widow isn't _chatty_ by any stretch of the imagination, but she starts talking to officers, softly at first. She asks about the procedure they're using to book a mugger (tucked safely up against a wall and out of reach, sensibly, annoyingly). She's asking about the crimes that the bank robber is being taken in under. She shows up, perched warily in the precinct window and ready to flee at a moment's notice, to ask what she messed up on during a takedown that let a would-be rapist walk free. What she can do next time she stops an incident like that, so that the criminal can't escape justice proper, lasting justice. 

George... doesn't know how he feels about the change. His officers are just as baffled, but they seem to be taking this as a good change. She's still a vigilante, still going to be arrested if they catch her, but she's trying to learn how to work with them, after two years of interfering.

He still blames her for Parker's death though. Still hates her for hurting Gwen, but Gwen's been getting better, and White Widow seems to be trying to make things better too. He's confused. He doesn't like it. Law is law, and he shouldn't be feeling glad that a vigilante is trying for a lighter shade of grey. 

 

 

III.

Then one seemingly regular day, there's a bank robbery, and the thieves are making their getaway in a high-speed car-chase. There's two of the cars, swerving around and nearly taking out civilians, and then White Widow is there and she's webbing up one of them but _she's not alone_. There's another figure up in the air with her, and while she's white and black he's black and red, but he's climbing walls and shooting webs just like her and he's taking up the other car in smooth easy motions. 

George stops his car and gets out ahead of the others, catching the two vigilantes giving each other a high-five as they perch up on the web they've woven. The cars are suspended a few feet off the ground by that same network stretched between the nearby buildings, tires spinning and engines revving angrily, uselessly.

"Who's this then, Black Widow?" one of the other cops calls out as they approach. The other vigilante tilts their head questioningly, and the familiar vigilante crosses her arms and shrugs. 

"They call me White Widow sometimes, instead of just Spider-Woman. Sometimes Ghost Spider."

"Dude, that's the coolest name _ever_!" The other exclaims, turning to her. "Why didn't I get to have a cool nickname like that, mine's lame!"

"Aww, I think Spider-kid suits you!" White Widow teases- her voice is soft but George has _never_ heard her use any inflection besides wariness or anger, but she sounds downright fond as she honestly _teases_ the other vigilante. 

"Nooo!" The other one- _Spider-kid?_ what kind of a name is that?- moans, sagging dramatically. "Spider-man, I am a man!"

"Yeah, sure Kid-Arachnid." 

"You are _so_ mean." 

While the two are talking, George gestures for the other cops to go around him, and several are eyeing the weave of webs up on the third story, from which the cars still dangle (the criminals inside are fine enough to be yelling and cussing heartily, so they aren't in too much of a rush to get them down.)

"What's with the hanging?" One of the cops asks, reaching up and pushing the bumper of one of the cars and sending it gently spinning. Spider-kid (Spider-man? George's so confused, which is it?) perks up, sticks a finger in the air, and speaks in a faint sing-song tone, like someone who's repeating or reciting something. 

"Webbing speeding cars to the ground can cause severe damage to the road structure or the occupants of the vehicles, as well as causing severe delays while damages are repaired and debris is cleared away. Suspending cars allows safe recovery of suspects with minimal damage to the city and rapid return of regular traffic." 

There's a silent, almost awkward pause before Spider-Woman laughs, trying to hide it with a hand but spluttering out a string of snickers. 

"That's uh..." George scratches the back of his head in bafflement because... well. "That's very logical. And correct, though getting the cars down-"

"We can dissolve the webs and lower the cars ourselves once you're in position to take them in." Spider-woman cuts in, getting her laughter under control. To her fellow, she goes "You are such a nerd." 

"The entire precinct has started pop-quizzing me whenever I swing by!" Spider-kid complains. "Then they tease me if I get an answer wrong. Maria's even keeping a copy of the procedural manual in her glovebox for the sole purpose of messing with me! I _know_ she didn't keep it there before all this!"

"It's your fault for showing up in the office _asking_ for lessons on procedure instead of just getting a copy of the handbook _quietly_ without drawing attention to yourself." 

George has... no idea what's happening. He's looking between the two vigilantes- spider-people?- as they bicker like friends, and for the first time it really strikes George that Spider-Woman is... not just a mask. She's a person under there- admittedly one that's been breaking the law for 2 years, but she's been trying to help, and she's been getting better about it lately (perhaps the influence of this spider-man person?) It's too late in the evening to be pondering the humanity of annoying arachnid vigilantes however, so he steps past them and starts calling organizing the retrieval. 

Said arachnids break off their bickering to lower the cars to the ground and Spider-man was right- the criminals are shoved into the patrol cars, the getaway vehicles are towed away, and apart from the web up high (which the spiders are in the process of dismantling anyway), there's no shattered glass, no fuel leaks from ruptured gas tanks, no torn up pieces of pavement that need to be filled in. It's quick, clean, and efficient. 

Part of George is thankful, because he can go home on time tonight when earlier he was planning out how to call Gwen and tell her he was going to miss dinner. He's not going to have to spend hours writing up reports on the damages, and whatever lawyers the crooks get aren't going to be able to get them out on excessive force with not one of them being injured. 

But part of him is furious because now there's _two_ vigilantes. Because Spider-woman _killed_ someone, and there she was, laughing when she should have been in jail for it. Because somewhere in his city is apparently a precinct that's actively helping and teaching this new vigilante how to avoid breaking the law without fully abiding by it. 

He's glad. He's angry. He's hopeful. He's guilty. He's... confused. 

 

 

IV.

Spider-kid doesn't show up nearly as often as Spider-woman. (I'm Spider- _man_! He complains, no, he _whines_ , which only cements everyone's dedication in calling him Spider-kid.) It's considered frequent if he's seen more than once a week (if even that). One cop asks what he's up to and he just says "visiting a friend" which everyone takes to mean Spider-woman. Are they a couple? Somehow, his mask conveys alarm at that when he's asked (on top of him falling off the lightpost he'd been perched on), so probably not. 

There's occasional rumors or reports of him looking different- in blue and red, instead of black (also taller), or sometimes wearing a trenchcoat and grey spandex, but no guaranteed confirmed sightings, so most of those reports are ignored. (The one that claimed he'd acquired some kind of giant mech suit was thrown right out the window.)

Spider-Kid doesn't appear anywhere regularly- he's always where White Widow is, or she joins him shortly after he's spotted. George tears through every precinct in the city (it's a long, troublesome process), but none of them seem to know anything about the newcomer, much less giving him pop quizzes in law. It drives him insane, because the way Spider-kid had been talking, George knew he hadn't been spinning a tale. Maybe he was actually active in another city, away from New York? But he can't find any mention of him online either. It's infuriating- it's like he doesn't exist outside of visiting his fellow spider. 

 

 

V.

George decides to go home for lunch to get a break from the office, and is completely surprised when he walks into the kitchen to find an unfamiliar teenage boy sitting on the counter with a sandwich halfway to his mouth, eyes wide in equal surprise. George opens his mouth and takes a sharp step forward- not sure if he's going to demand to know who the kid is, or how he got in- when the boy... flickers. And then there's just... a sandwich. 

Floating. 

In his kitchen. 

George stares at it as the sandwich slowly goes up, and a mouth-shaped portion... disappears, and it floats down again. 

...

_What._

George glances around warily and spots an entire plate piled high with sandwiches on the counter, near where the boy had been sitting (was still sitting?). There's a pair of red sneakers on the floor by the table, next to Gwen's sneakers, so his daughter is home too. 

As if summoned by the thought, Gwen's voice echoes from the living room. 

"Miles I swear to god if you eat all those sandwiches and don't leave half for me I'm throwing you off a bridge with extreme prejudice." 

And she walks into the kitchen, eyes focused on her funky little wristwatch as she fastens it on. She's several steps into the room when she finally looks up to see her father standing in the doorway and she freezes on the spot. Then her eyes slide over and she spots the floating sandwich. 

_"Miles!"_ She hisses, eyes going wide. 

"I panicked!" A voice yelps from the sandwich-area. Then there's a rippling of color and the boy's back to sitting on the counter, still clutching the sandwich, wide-eyed and looking like a deer in headlights. "I didn't notice him come in I just looked over and there was a _person_ in your kitchen!"

They're both staring at each other, Gwen's eyes narrowed and the boy's eyes wide, and George is looking between them because... apparently he _hadn't_ imagined the floating sandwich?

"Are you going to introduce us?" He resorts to asking, because... is this a friend? Has Gwen made a new friend? Can her new friend turn invisible? Should he be worried about that? Nevermind, Gwen might've just brought a new friend home, focus on that.

Gwen looks between the two of them like she can't believe what she's seeing. The boy hops lightly off the counter and sets his sandwich on the pile before offering George his hand. 

"Hello Mr. Stacy- I'm Miles, Miles Morales." George stares at the hand for a moment, and then slowly accepts it (he's relieved to find it solid- he still wasn't quite sure the kid was... real). 

Then the boy's stomach growls and he ducks his head in embarrassment and looks over towards Gwen. She's now leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, but she's got a soft lopsided smile, and she jerks her chin at the plate of sandwiches, and then towards the door. Miles ducks and spins and in one smooth motion he's nabbed the entire plate and twisted around George and gotten his hand on knob, chirping out a quick "See you outside" and then he's gone (out the door, thankfully, and not invisible again). 

George stares after him, and then turns to his daughter. 

"Your friend turned invisible." Was the only thing that could come out of his mouth. 

The shift in her posture is minuscule, but he's not her father for nothing- George can see how she's curled in slightly, the smile a little more stilted. 

"Yeah." It's more of an exhale than a word, but she's glancing towards the door again, and her smile becomes a little more genuine again. 

George wants to say something more, but he's not sure what, or how. People with powers like that were bad news- look at Spider-woman, sticking to walls and swinging around like she owned the city and getting teenagers killed. 

But more importantly... Gwen was smiling. She was teasing the kid- Miles- in a gentle way he hadn't heard from her in years. She hadn't objected when George called the boy her friend, which meant she really did consider him such. Gwen was finally making friends again and... 

And if that friend happened to turn invisible when he got spooked... 

George would deal. He _would_. 

"Don't get into any trouble." He warns her softly, finally, as he steps out from between her and the door, and he receives a beautiful smile in return as she slips away. 

 

 

V.

Miles seems to show up more often after the kitchen encounter. He doesn't turn invisible again, which George is thankful for- he can almost pretend he imagined it. Oftentimes he's on the couch with Gwen watching movies. (He might have caught the boy flickering while the kids were watching a horror movie in the living room once, but he made sure not too look too closely to avoid getting that headache again.) Sometimes George finds them in the kitchen debating over various foodstuffs (one time he found them with nothing but a bottle of seasoning that he didn't recognize, and Miles was trying to list foods it would be used on while Gwen stared at him blankly.)

He wants to distrust the kid (has it never occurred to him how easy crimes would be if no-one could see him? Has he never been tempted to try?), but instead George finds himself growing fonder as he gets to know him. The kid's insanely smart, as well as open and friendly.

And Gwen laughs, and talks with him about other people (other friends? George hopes), and throws pillows at him when he makes ridiculous science or math jokes. George hears her mention some other kids in her school that sat with her at lunch, and he's relieved and proud or her (and also slightly baffled when Miles says out loud exactly what George was feeling, and Gwen just quietly thanks him before they return their attention to the movie). 

 

 

VI.

He draws the line when Gwen offhandedly mentions that she's going to go study at Miles's for the night however. He calls to her before she gets out the door- she's not staying at someone else's house until George has met the boy's parents. Gwen stares at him blankly before looking down at her watch and sighing, retreating to the counter and pulling out her phone. 

He thinks she's going to text Miles to change their plans, but as she hops up to sit on the counter, she holds the phone in front of her face as it starts to ring loudly- she's got it on speakerphone. 

Click. "Hey kiddo!" It's a grown man's deep voice, sounding quite cheerful. "Rio and I are at the grocery store- and yeah, Peter's tagging along too- what do you kids want for dinner?"

She clears her throat and glances from the phone to George before speaking. "Hey Mr. Davis- I'm actually still at home, my dad wants to meet you before he'll let me stay over." 

"Oh!" Mr. Davis sounds surprised, but not concerned. "Yes of course- I'll call Miles and we'll be over soon. Rio dear-" He pauses, listening to his wife for a moment. "Love you too dear. Peter that's not- it's not a discount it's diarrhea waiting to happen, put it back. Yes I'm sure. Gwen? I need to text Miles- see you soon kiddo." 

.

It takes less time than George expected for a knock to sound at the kitchen door. He's even more surprised to open it and realize Mr. Davis is in an officer's uniform. Miles is tucked up beside him- in a green-and-red zipped-up hoodie despite the unusual heat of the day. The boy waves, and Gwen slides around George's arm to wave back and catch Miles by the arm, hauling him to the living room with a quick wave to Davis as well. 

"So." George says, staring at the doorway the kids disappeared through. 

"So." Davis repeats, and George glances over to see the other officer looking at the same doorway with fondness. 

"Sounds like you were having an interesting shopping trip." George wonders if the Peter that Davis had been talking to was the same one Gwen seemed to be friends with now. Davis lets out a surprised bark of laughter and turns to look at George. 

"Yeah. I have no idea how he survived to adulthood considering some of the stuff I've seen him eat. I'm just glad Gwen and Miles are pickier- I worry less." 

George quirked an eyebrow at that. "You worry over my daughter often then?"

"I worry about all of them." Davis says, half-muttered softly before he shakes his head. "It's a long complicated story that I can't really tell without breaking the kids' trust, but ever since they've been thick as thieves. Closer really, they've become a little family of their own." 

He pauses when there's a _'thud'_ from the living room, and Miles yelps while Gwen lets out a strong, spluttering laugh, and George feels himself smiling at the sound. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Davis doing the same. 

"We should meet up again in the future, when you don't have three kids to watch and feed." George offers, while sticking his hand out to the other cop. "George Stacy, by the way." 

Davis smiles and takes his hand, giving it a firm shake. "Jefferson Davis. I look forward to it."


	2. Welcome to the New Age

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some parents find out secrets gently. On accident, with a few puzzle pieces clicking into place. Some find out in the middle of a disaster. Sometimes the finding out _is_ a bit of a disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance. There was no way this was going to be gentle.

VII.

Jefferson, George soon learns, has a curious taste for coffee. Miles continues to come over to visit Gwen, and Gwen goes to visit Miles, but sometimes Jefferson will tag along with his son so the dads can catch up. One of those times Gwen offers him a hazelnut coffee with a smirk (George doesn't even know when she had the time to get it since she just got home from school, but here it is, piping hot in its little paper cup). Jeff acts like he's never tasted anything of the sort, and one of his eyelids twitches as he tastes the flavored coffee. Miles cackles and Gwen smirks, and Jeff puts the coffee down to ruffle their heads. A few months ago Gwen would have shut down at such a gesture and locked herself in her room, but now all she does is knock his wrist away with a roll of her eyes and a punch to Miles's shoulder as he tries to suppress his giggling.

George isn't quite sure how it happened, but after a while he and Jeff end up having bi-weekly coffees at George's favorite cafe a few blocks from work, and Jeff slowly works his way through every specialty coffee on the menu like he's never had any of them before. 

"At least it's better than Foam Party." the other dad says at one point, and George has never heard of the place, but Jeff assures him it's over-hyped and over-priced anyways. 

Sometimes they'll talk about work during these hangouts, but usually it's the kids. His coworkers at the precinct always laughed off George's complaints about how much Gwen's appetite had grown as time went on, but Jeff only nodded, eyes crinkled with understanding. Miles is the same way, he says. An entire pizza is a snack, it takes at least two to fill the kid's belly on a good day- even more if he's been out and about (Jeff's words, said with an only-slightly-awkward shrug). Apparently the kids also share strange sleeping habits (only staying asleep for a few hours each night, with short little power-naps through the day on various horizontal and not-so-horizontal surfaces), and a tendency to sprawl anywhere on anything (George can't remember the last time he saw his daughter sitting on the sofa in a 'normal' position).

George learns very quickly however that the one topic they cannot share is vigilantism. _Especially_ spider-themed vigilantes. George complains, Jeff's defense of them seems almost automatic, strong and vehement, they almost get kicked out of the cafe for the yelling, it was not a good time. The next time they meet it's slightly awkward until they come to the unspoken agreement to never mention the spiders again. And that's a good arrangement... right up until it isn't. 

 

 

VIII.

Jeff spots the scene on the muted television first, almost spitting his coffee across the table as he chokes. George twists to see what it is, and he sees live coverage of Spider-woman and Spider-kid _and now there's another one what the hell_. They're fighting Doc Ock again (why is it so hard to get these lunatics to stay in jail, seriously they keep breaking out like there's a revolving door), and there's cars and chunks of masonry being tossed about like pebbles. It's the middle of rush hour, the roads and sidewalks are packed, and the vigilantes aren't fighting so much as scrambling to yank civilians out of the way. 

George isn't sure which of them stood up and bolted from the cafe first, but they're both hurrying down the street, making a beeline for the scene which isn't that far away. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Jeff pulling out his badge and fiddling with his cuffs, but he's more focused on holding up his own badge and yelling at the bystanders to stop standing around gawping and get to safety. 

There's a crash overhead and dust and glass shards rain down on the screaming crowd, and George looks up from under his shielding arm to see the red-and-blue spider-person crawling out of a hole in the wall. 

"We'll get everyone clear- don't take unnecessary hits!" Jefferson yells up, and the vigilante throws him a two-fingered salute before forming a webbing slingshot and rocketing himself back down the other street, back towards the center of the fight. 

Davis has a knack for yelling in just the right tone to get people to stop gawking at the super-powered crazies above them and send them off to safety. It's going surprisingly well (the spiders aren't watching the crowd as closely, so they're not taking as many hits from the villain either, which means they're keeping him distracted from tearing up even more of the city), right up Doc Ock crashes into the pavement just a few feet from George and Jeff, and their eyes meet. There's a giant clawed contraption flying towards him, and George has an odd moment of clarity- he's a cop yes, but what the hell can cops do against crazy lunatics with metal tentacles like this, and _this is gonna really hurt_. There's a familiar-sounding _'thwip'_ from behind him though, and the tentacle is covered in sticky webbing, sparking with an electrical current and the appendage is flinching, it's drawing back, and George turns (he's not sure if it's to thank or glare at whichever vigilante just saved him), but the only one there is Jefferson Davis. 

Jefferson Davis, with his feet braced and stance set, arms out straight, palms up and fingers curled in an all-too-familiar pose. The vigilantes are shouting overhead and George's attention is drawn back up once more to find all three of them focusing on the pair of cops, just in time to see Ghost Spider get snatched by the leg and hurled full-speed into the side of an already-wrecked car. Without a second's hesitation Jefferson is sprinting past George, leaving his back open to the villain, but he needn't have worried, as the little Spider-kid is now blanketed with electricity, body-slamming into the villain's back and throwing him face-first into the other vigilante's fist. 

George doesn't see much more beyond that though, as he follows a few steps behind Jeff. When he crouches down, the other man already has a gentle hand on Spider-woman's shoulder, keeping her down as she hisses in pain and tries to curl in on herself. 

"Easy now, you're okay, just stay down for now kiddo, let's let the boys deal with that guy, okay?" And Jefferson keeps talking in a low stream, but George can't help but stare at the point of contact. He's never seen the vigilante look so... small, before. She's always been perched up out of reach, or ducking and weaving through a mob like a white blur of limbs lashing out. But now her arms are wrapped around her midriff, and her ankle's clearly at an odd angle, and her mask twists in a clear grimace when she shifts it. 

"This is my city," she gasps out as she tries to sit up again. "I have to-"

"What do I always tell you kids?" Jeff interrupts sharply, and George is blinking because _'this is a vigilante not a kid'_ but now it's been said and heavens above she really is that small _she really is a kid_ and George's whole worldview is collapsing around his ears, but on the ground the girl slumps back with a sigh. 

"Know our limits." She murmurs morosely, and Jeff nods. This isn't the first time he's done this. He's sat with vigilantes and scolded them for recklessness enough for it to become a familiar song and dance between them. Somewhere behind George there's a loud swear, some kind of explosion, and finally the street falls quiet. Then a small black-and-red blur darts past George's elbow and the Spider-kid is crouched down next to his fellow, hand going out to her other shoulder and the other hovering anxiously over her twisted ankle as... 

as he... 

...flickers. 

"Calm down there Spider-kid, looks like she's just sprained it." Jefferson tone is steady and solid, and he's reaching out and the kid's about half invisible but the other cop manages to catch his shoulder just fine- he's not phased by this at all. 

"Seriously, I'm fine, stop overreacting so much." Spider-woman is complaining, looking over at her fellow law-breaker (fellow kid oh gods George is not liking where his mind is going please no _this isn't happening_ ). 

He sees the red-and-blue one step up in his peripheral vision, and this vigilante at least has a few inches on George- by his build he at least is clearly a full adult. George can't take his eyes off the trio on the ground, but he can see the mask giving him a considering look. He doesn't say anything to George though- just sighs and goes to join the others, nudging the Spider-kid aside and wedging his arms underneath Spider-woman's (or is it Spider-girl's) chest and knees, waiting until she'd taken a bracing breath to lift her up in a smooth motion. 

"I'll get her to Rio to get this wrapped- looks like you two are gonna have to take point on this." And Spider-kid's fiddling with a watch and some kind of... weird, colorful blob swirls into existence in the middle of the street and the taller vigilante steps through, after pointing his chin towards George. The blob vanishes along with the two vigilantes, and George is left with...

Well.

He's left with a migraine, a rising wave of static in his mind, and an absolute disaster. 

(And a horrible, painful suspicion in his heart, that he's desperately trying not to follow to it's conclusion as Mi-as _Spider-kid_ settles enough to stop turning invisible, and instead starts helping to clear the street of debris while Jefferson updates the arriving officers on the situation and organizes their relief efforts. George should be doing that but... well. All he can do right now is stand like a statue, wondering why everything feels like it's crashing around him when the destruction's already passed.)

 

 

IX.

Jefferson and Spider-kid vanish at some point once the road's clear and the villain's back in custody. George catches a taxi home, and tries hard to be surprised when he arrives at an empty house. Tries to be surprised when he calls Gwen and her phone's not connecting again. 

He tries to be surprised when she _does_ get a text out to him late that evening- saying she'd been hanging out with Miles and Peter, they lost track of time, Miles's mom had already ordered dinner, she'd be home tomorrow evening don't worry.

_Don't worry._

George stares at the text for several minutes. He puts the phone down on the table and paces the kitchen. Opens the fridge, stares inside. Closes it and goes back to pacing. 

Returns to the table to stare at the phone. Picks it back up. Looks at it again. Turns it off so he wouldn't have to look at it. Throws the phone, and winces when it bounces off the wall and hits the tiled floor with a sharp _crack_. 

He doesn't move, staring at the spiderweb of broken glass across the black screen with a sense of detachment. _Shock,_ the small, calm part of his brain is whispering, _you're in shock._

Well, yes, probably. Spider-kid turns invisible. Gwen's friend Miles turns invisible. Spider-kid has webshooters. Miles's dad has webshooters too for some reason. Spider-kid only appears to visit his fellow vigilante, and then vanishes right back into nonexistence. Miles only seems to exist when he's stopping by to hang out with Gwen. 

Gwen's out late a lot. Spider-woman's never been that active during daylight hours. During school hours. She's so small. They're both so small. 

George didn't realize he was backing away from the phone until he almost fell when he bumped into the table. Slowly, he lowered himself to the floor, still staring blankly, his back pressing against the table's leg. 

Gwen's friend Miles was the Spider-kid. Gwen was...

His daughter was...

_His little girl..._

_How many times had he nearly shot her?_

 

 

X.

He's not sure when he fell asleep, or how, but when George wakes up he's laid out sideways on the kitchen floor, everything is stiff, and he can barely feel his fingers or toes (or his left hip for that matter- getting old sucks). It takes a few tries for him to haul himself back up, and a glance out the window shows bright light streaming in- it's well into the next day already. 

He takes a shower to warm up and rinse off the leftover dust and debris from earlier (yesterday?), and then he changes into some comfy clothes. He can't quite remember if he was supposed to be in at the station today- there was still a bit of numb fog in the back of his head and he was studiously avoiding thinking on it again. 

He goes to the kitchen to make something for breakfast, but freezes on seeing the broken phone still on the floor. He stares. 

Returns to the living room and uses the landline to order pizza. Almost returns the kitchen, but settles onto the sofa instead. He turns on the TV, and immediately turns it off again when he catches a glimpse of familiar webbed suits. It's quiet outside of the usual low-level rumble of city life outside. That's fine. He can wait for pizza in silence. He looses himself in the fog of not thinking for a while until the doorbell rings, and then he gives himself a mental shake and goes looking for his wallet. 

George freezes when he opens the door and finds a familiar face watching him with wide-eyed wariness (and hope? Maybe? Why?). George... doesn't know what do to. Can't think. He's got the pizza, so he gets offered money. Right. 

"I paid the guy on the stairs." Miles says, not taking the money from George's hand. "Can I come in?" 

Huh. Usually Miles just kind of... shows up in the house. 

"Gwen's not home." George offers, and his voice sounds odd, even to his own ears. Miles flinches slightly and... does the flickering thing again. 

"Does that always happen when you're upset?" George asks, honestly curious because he's seen tells, and that's a hell of a tell. Why hadn't he seen it before? Miles ducks his head and scratches behind one ear, holding the pizza against his hip on the other side. He takes a deep breath and the flicker slows to a halt, and the boy's solid and 100% visible again. 

"Everyone at school just figures if they loose sight of me randomly it's because I'm getting trained to be a ninja by my 'siblings'." A pause, and then again, "Can I come in?"

Right. They're still on the doorstep. George steps back, holding the door open, and Miles slips in, ducking his head in silent thanks before hurrying to the kitchen. George's throat prickles, but so does his stomach- he's starting to really wake up now, and he's starting to realize he hasn't had anything since the noon-time coffee with Jefferson the day before. The last solid food he'd had was a rushed breakfast sandwich with sad rubbery egg. He's _hungry_. 

"Your dad had webshooters." He says as he follows the kid and the pizza. Miles is looking at the phone, but he doesn't try to pick it up thankfully. Instead he hums in agreement and retrieves paper plates from their hidden spot in the cupboard behind the regular plates. 

"Someone figured out he was important to all the spider-people back home, so they kidnapped him and hurt him. None of us wanted it to happen again, so we made sure he'd always be able to protect himself and the people around him, even when we weren't there."

Us. We. 

"You're not denying it?"

"...Is there any point in trying?" Miles says this to the plates in his hand before taking a deep breath and looking up at George. "You're Gwen's dad. I tried to keep this from my dad and," he paused for another deep breath, "And it was a terrible idea. I'm kinda glad he found out by accident before I got to telling him myself. But, that's not the main point of why I came here. 

"All of us, we got these powers by _accident_. What we do with them... that's a choice we have to make every day. I wanted to sit back, pretend nothing was wrong, pretend I was still _normal_. But we've all lost someone- parents, uncles, best friends..."

Parker. _Gwen._

Miles breaks eye contact, he's looking down at the plates again. "Every one of us has lost someone, someone that we failed to save, and none of us want anyone else to have to go through that. If I can spare even one person that pain, if I can even just make a old lady's day a bit easier by carrying her groceries a few blocks... I want to do that." He's quiet for a minute, they both are. Then the kid sighs and sets the plates down and flips open the pizza box, looking back up at George as he does so. Then he blinks. 

"Are... are you okay?"

Well. No. No, probably not. 

"I tried to shoot her." 

"She doesn't blame you." 

"I tried to _shoot_ my _daughter._ " The fog is pulling away. There's something rising up in his chest. It feels like a swear, but it's more solid. Painful. Might be his heart, except that's _already_ up in his throat, strangling him. _I tried to shoot Gwen. I've called her a menace to her face. I put a bounty on her head. I tried to shoot my **daughter**. I never noticed, what kind of father am I, **how did I never-**_

As his head begins to spin, George is only half aware of Miles's wary look bleeding into outright concern. The kid's pulling out his phone, calling someone- Peter? Gwen talks about a Peter sometimes- Jeff mentions him too. Peter, _Peter_. He blamed Spider-woman, he'd been blaming _Gwen_ this _whole time-_

His line of thought is broken as Miles disconnects the call at the same time as a semi-familiar bubbling blob in space twists itself into being in the middle of his kitchen. Out steps a man with a mess of brown hair and a twice-broken nose, with a squirming, cussing Gwen in his arms. 

"I'm not an invalid Peter! I can walk around on my own it's just a sprained ankle! Peter! Put! Me! Down! Hey!" The man- Peter- looks down at her and shrugs, and then almost tosses her at Miles, who yelps and catches her, but looses his balance and falls to the ground with another squwak as Peter turns and vanishes back into the blob. He's only gone for a second though- long enough for the two teens to separate themselves with a few muttered curses- and then he's back with five pizza boxes and the blob collapses. 

George momentarily considers decking the stranger for manhandling his daughter, but he's setting the pizzas on the table, and Miles has a chair by the leg in one hand and is trying to hit him at an awkward angle with it, and Gwen is kicking his shins with her non-bandaged leg, but despite the squinted eyes and supposed violence they all have small smiles on their faces. 

"Let's demolish these lovely pies, and then sit down and have a bit of story time, hmm?" Peter says, and he's nudging the kids back with his toes as they roll on the floor (Miles latches onto one of his legs and nearly topples him), but his eyes are on George. His voice is light, but his expression is serious. 

And then Gwen latches onto his other leg and _yanks_ and the man hits the ground with a cuss and a yelp, and both Gwen and Miles are laughing as they pin his legs and go for the arms. Peter contorts around to catch Gwen with a noogie for all of half a second before Miles is at his side tickling him. 

And George is still standing almost forgotten in the doorway, and the fog is gone, and so is the feeling of his heart in his throat, and the screams and swears that had been trapped beneath it. He feels oddly like he's floating, as he watches Gwen twist with her friends on the floor, laughing the loudest he's ever heard from her since she was just a tot as she helps her fellow teen tickle their companion into submission. 

His heart is racing. He might be floating, but probably not. This is going to wear off at some point he knows, but for now. 

For now. 

For now, there's pizza (there's way too much pizza), and Gwen's laughter echoing through the house, and Gwen's friends are in a heap on the floor with wide grins. George takes a deep breath, then another, and then goes to the cabinet to get more plates. 

Behind his back, the youngest spider slugs the middle one in the arm with a grin, and the eldest gets his fingers bent backwards for ruffling her hair. 

(His pained yelp draws George's gaze back, but they're all still grinning, even if there's tears in Peter's eyes as he squirms and twists to relieve the pressure on his fingers, and Gwen's nearly hiccuping between laughing and crying in relief, and Miles has just given up on any pretenses and is openly letting his tears fall across his smile even as he dives for Peter's legs again.

Part of George's brain is still freaking out, but seeing the three on the floor, he hopes Miles is right, that Gwen will forgive him. He might not ever forgive himself, but so long as she was okay, he'd get through.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why it looked like Miles just up and exposed Gwen behind her back, it's because Peter recognized the look of a vigilante's dad having his world turned upside down. Peter told the others about what he saw when they got back, and Gwen spent the whole night freaking out about how her dad was gonna react when she tried to go home, thinking he was gonna keep hating Spider-woman aka _hating her_. The entire spider-family knows this is bull, but _oof_. So Miles snuck out ahead of the others to go check up on George first. (he was planning on testing George's reactions to finding stuff out, and then maybe telling him how upset Gwen is about it so he'll be ready to be Good Dadtm, but unfortunately George was not handling it well at all. Hence, panicked call to Peter for backup.)
> 
> Also, Peter has a very _direct_ method of breaking tense situations. ;)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Adding it on as a snippet would have thrown off the ending, but after the kids manage to get George to eat, they take him back home to meet Jeff and Rio and Aunt May and the MJs, and all the adults have a good serious conversation about stubborn good-hearted children vigilantes (said children are shooed out the door beforehand (and yes, children includes Peter, much to his grumbling)). George manages to talk himself into shock a few more times during that conversation. After he goes back home though he continues to feel utmost guilt, and his coworkers are hella confused the first time Captain Stacy sees Ghost Spider again and promptly goes almost catatonic. They're both a mess for months, but eventually they manage to get back on solid footing with each other (with lots of input and love and support from the spiderfam).
> 
> On a more lighthearted end, George and Jeff continue to go out for coffees, and George convinces Jeff to take him to Foam Party exactly once. George declares it foaming water and they go back to finding flavors like Maple Pumpkin Hazelnut in George's city while now bonding over the heart-attacks their children keep giving them.


End file.
